Update

January 17, 2011

Not a lot is going on right now with my RA, thankfully. My ankles are painful but they always are, so that’s nothing new. Otherwise my joints feel pretty good. I’m staying away from caffeine, which I believe is helping to keep my RA under control (but who knows, really). However I am still having issues related to my thyroid and anxiety. I went to my internist today to talk to him more about this and left feeling rather disappointed. He seemed to rush through the appointment, not really listening to me that closely. He also contradicted himself in major ways a few times, which I also found frustrating and distressing. I know that thyroid conditions can be very tricky and there is no exact science when it comes to diagnosis and treatment (which is similar to rheumatoid arthritis). Every patient is different and every body reacts differently to medications and the disease itself.

So, long story short, I believe that I have been over-medicated (levothyroxine) for an underactive thyroid (slightly high TSH) which has been causing the anxiety and other hyperthyroid symptoms. I’ve been completely off the thyroid drug for about two weeks now, and I do feel better, yet I’m still having anxiety problems. I’m really hoping that I just need to wait it out a bit longer and that I’ll go back to feeling normal again. In the meantime, my doctor prescribed an anti-anxiety medication for me to take on a temporary basis. It’s supposed to be non-habit forming with no withdrawal symptoms. I hope that will start to kick in soon and give me some relief. This has all been so incredibly stressful. I think I’d prefer to have an RA flare-up rather than deal with this anxiety crap.